kuziwk

i did it last week, pulled the pan replaced the screen/filter, took me 3-4 hours as i had to clean the old gasket off and the shavings in the pan plus you have to let it drain for an hour. Than afterwards i went under the car 3 other times to tighten up the bolts because it was leaking and i have never done tranny servicing before, so i learned alot. The tranny is really smooth, however from gear 1-2 is not as smooth as the others, not sure why but i figure it has something to do with the ect adaptive transmission, i have yet to pull the battery and reset to my driving styles. Anyone know where the torque converter is and how to service it?

so the trac light always comes on, which goes away when i turn off the car and start it again, however it seems to only do it, or do it more often in hot weather. Is there something i narrow it down to such as the actuator?

update... i did the diagnostic and it came up as 19

19 - TRAC motor ON and OFF operation is higher than a predetermined number of times (accumulator pressure leakage

what does this mean

i have a 92 ls400, i also have a set of 20" rims, with 275/40/R20 tires on them? will these fit? if not what tires would i have to change to make them fit, just the fronts? Also are 20's really hard on the car?

the driver seat for some reason it seams that the front portion of the seat is leaning way too much forward, almost as if the very front of the seat wont raise anymore, i try lowering the back portion but than i cant see very well...Im short so....Is it possible the front portion of the seat is partially stripped and only raises 3/4 of the way? or is this normal?

I hope this does not come as a shock but...the LS is an old people's car. :o If you are changing wheels just to get your friends approval you may be disappointed to find that they still think its an old person's car.

However, if you really want to explore the world of wheels, you can get hours of entertainment from the "Wheels and Tires" section of this

forum -> http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showforum=10

Enjoy!

lol i know :( but i dont understand why i i have to wait until im 40 to have a quick, smooth, luxurious and reliable ride...Im 18 Btw. I dont care what other people think though as im already looking at the 98 ls400 for the speed, plus it looks like a reliable new mercedes, or the new ls430 but need money. Personally just really hate the rims on it now, as well as wider wheels offering better handling.

If you want to mess with the exhaust take the back two mufflers off. It will give you a little rumble, but nothing crazy. You can still put them back on if you want. There is no decent way to make a noticeable improvement in acceleration without spending crazy money on a turbo or supercharger. there is one aftermarket intake made for the LS and it's a piece of junk. the only place to get bigger cams is lextreme and they are more overpriced than the STEALership. If there was a decent way to make more power I would already have it done lol. BTW just to second what everyone else said, do NOT mess with the cats. You can get a good full custom exhaust for the same price as messing up one cat. do not touch them!

nah, didnt wanna take the mufflers off, its a lexus...a sleeper. So when you blow past the *BLEEP* can civics its funnier, not a fan of civics and i own a 05 dodge neon, lol. The one thing i did do is rip apart the stock airbox for a little extra thorttle response and higher rpm noise.

so i changed the fluid,pulled off the pan cleaned it nice and changed the filter. I added two litres of oil, the tranny shifts very smooth. After taking it for a drive i checked the level again which used to be good but is now showing no oil while its running not even in the cold??? there are no leaks as i checked it over. Also on Lexs tutorial site it said the drain and refill amount is 1.9 litres?

I agree with SRK, cats don't usually 'clog' after a certain amount of miles. That is, under normal circumstances.

Cats rely on receiving a proper mix of exhaust gases at a certain temperature. Some 'kill' their cat by over-using certain fuel additives, or lack of proper maintenance; fouled plugs (unburned fuel), bad exhaust valves etc. Many very short trips can also contribute to not fully warming up engine and cat, leaving some unburned residue.

Some warning signs that may point to a clogged cat/exhaust chain are noticeable; a major drop in gas-milage, not getting a proper response when accelerating and more than extreme heat from the cat.

Yea I guess I can leave it alone, I'm just looking for more acceleration, so why was it climbing so slow after 100 mph? Does anyone know of any easy mods?

Leave the cats alone. They are a specific fit on these cars, tight to the engine block. That's why the starter is in the valley. There is nothing wrong with your cats - you'd have an O2 sensor code if there was. These cars were among the first to use pre and post cat sensors, and the post cat ones will trip a code if you mess with the cats, or they fail, which is very rare. Find something else to play with.

Lexus was very careful in the design of the exhaust system, which is completely made of stainless steel, and I've never heard of the system wearing out - except for some flange gasket troubles.

yea but after 200 000 miles cats usually clog, so if i punched out the cat filters inside the converter would it trip a code?

how do you know if your cats are clogged? i brought the car up to 160 kmph after that it was barely climbing so i let go, the car accelerates decent off the line better than my neon, so i dont have much to compare to other than taking it to a dyno shop for a few hundred dollars. How much would High flow cats cost, i believe i would need two? Is there a way to punch out the cats without tripping the o2 sensors? it is too much knowledge that the exhaust has resonators and mufflers therefore a lack of cats will not be very much louder.

the only reason i brought the car up to past the speed limit was too test the cats, as a result my seat got very warm and i thought the seat heater was on, however, it was not. I can buy some cats on ebay, but does anyone know how many cats the car has?

If you want to see how the IS rims would look then check out IS400's profile. She hasn't posted in a while but she had those rims on there and they looked really nice. There should be a few ics of her LS in her profile.

k cool, any other ideas or pictures?

i need some help choosing rims for my ls400, currently the rims are 15" and people keep saying the car is for old people, so i need to change that. Whats the widest tires i can go with? 245 i was thinking on a 18-20 inch rim? i was looking at the stock is300 rims, does anyone know how these would look?

so i picked up a filter and gasket for the tranny, i hate the dealership so i picked up some tranny oil its called mobile atf fluid, specially formualted for toyota, lexus, including most imports. Is this fine to use?

I bought my Lexus with about 100k miles. I started using synthetic oil when I got it. I then started to get leaks in several places. I did some searching on this site and found the leaks were possibly due to the synthetic oil. I switched back to reg oil (Castrol High Mileage along with the Castrol high mileage filter) and the majority of my leaks have disappeared. I don't think it is a coincidence.............

K cool ill pick up some castrol high mileage, I've got 200k miles on it so.....yea the ps pump only whines on cold start than goes away, just annoying because a lexus should not make noises, lol. Mechanic couldn't figure it out, should I change the oil to atf fluid? Not sure what was in before.

Let me say first I would not switch to Synthetic oil in this car with that many miles on dino oil. I'd be worried about leaks...and its just not worth it.

However, I disagree with the statement that Synthetic oils do not lubricate better than dino oil. That may be true when the oil is fresh, but dino oils break down much more quickly than synthetic oils. When you look at oil analyses with Synthetic oil and dino oil even at 5,000 miles (the recommended severe change schedule on a Lexus) the synthetic oil is much healthier and better lubricating at that point. Synthetic oil also has less paraffins that stiffen up when cold, so cold viscosity is better for cold startups. Synthetic is just a better product.

However, if you change the oil every 5k...you probably see no benefit to synthetic oil. I have changed my oil every 5k with Mobil 1 synthetic since the first oil change...but I'm aware its probably not worthwhile. Now if I wanted to try and do 10k intervals...I'd see a big benefit...but I'm not willing to do that.

On the new Lexus and Toyota cars they use synthetic oil and the reccomended change interval is 10k miles FWIW...

so which oil do you guys suggest? does it have to be toyota?, because i hate going to the stealership.

im not really sure whats in the car, which is a 92 ls400 with 314, 000 km or 200 000 miles. The car recomends toyota brand, i was thinking of putting castrol fully synthetic, would this be bad, should i just use toyota? Also ive considered putting bitron additive. Also my recently replaced power steering pump is whining upon start, is there something i can add?

I figured it out...for some reasons the air shocks lowered because of this slight bump and incline in front of my house...don't know why...and for the record...my ride ain't pimped yet... B)

you sure??? i thought a saw Xzibit !Removed! around with it, lol. Air shock ecu most likely or leaky air suspension in which case it cost's 1000 per shock at lexus, so dont go there to repair it.

Black on black big sedan, and the AK-47 rifle racks in the trunk.

thats sick man ak-47 gun racks?....in my 92 ls400 it took me two hours and a bottle of vim to clean just the two front leather seats, and i found mouse *BLEEP* in the trunk under the panels.

My driver side door lock actuator gave out shortly after I had bought the car (used). I tried removing it at one point in time to possibly find an inexpensive new or used replacement, but learned that it is sort of "caged" in the door, and at the time decided it was not worth it to try and take it out. My friend works at a tint store that installs tint, alarms, stereos, etc. They also install universal door lock motors (usually in a vehicle that did not come with power door locks), anyway he installed one for me and it works great! He did'nt charge me anything because the motors cost just a few dollars and the rest is all labor. The tint on the front drivers side was also coming off, so I had him re-tint the whole car. He did charge me for that, but I was able to remove the old tint by myself fairly easy. So, basically if someone needs an actuator replaced, try going to a tint and alarm shop and have them install a universal door lock motor. It should be cheap because it is mainly just labor (removing door panel, finding 2 wires, installing new motor). Hope this helps someone.

thanks, ill keep it in mind. I dont understand though it couldnt be that hard to do yourself. Ive re salvaged window motors from my 1990 dodge ram with some paint thinner and oil afterwards.

You might also clean the old grommet of oil/grease and cut a piece of adhesive tape (like duct tape) to go over the grommet. When the grommet starts to break apart, the smaller pieces will adhere to the tape and make the cleanup easier.

hmm good idea about the tape, yea sorry pcv....stupid iphone, anyways how can i pull up on the plug ive tried my best and if i cant get it i dont know who can as i work out three days a week and im far from weak...lol. Is there a tool i can use besides pliers?

Any tips? The rubber is hard, what if pieces crack into the crankcase? Shouk I try a heatgun?

im not quite sure what the leak down test is, what would a mechanic charge (not the stealership). Im not sure about fuel pressure but whenever i open the tank to fill there is alot of pressure in the tank, probably needs a new gasket but i reafuse to pay $33 from lexus (yup i called and thats the price). Im currently running revive fuel injector cleaner from auto zone, as its a canadian brand, will this be harmful (i intent to change the fuel filter afterwards).

http://www.clarks-garage.com/pdf-manual/fuel-17.pdf

thanks, i dont see any black smoke, however there is white smoke but since its colder weather i think thats normal and it usually gets better as the car warms. If excessive white smoke was produced this would signify a coolant leak? either way the radator is fine to my knowledge. im also averaging 18 mpg which should go up a bit when i finish the bottle of injector cleaner and change the fuel filter.

Your symptoms point to a classic leak-down of fuel pressure such that it takes a few seconds to reprime the system when cold. From what I understand it may be a leaky injector. You can perform a leak-down test at the fuel rail.

im not quite sure what the leak down test is, what would a mechanic charge (not the stealership). Im not sure about fuel pressure but whenever i open the tank to fill there is alot of pressure in the tank, probably needs a new gasket but i reafuse to pay $33 from lexus (yup i called and thats the price). Im currently running revive fuel injector cleaner from auto zone, as its a canadian brand, will this be harmful (i intent to change the fuel filter afterwards).

perhaps it's time to change the fuel filter

Yea I was thinking that too, its only 30 for an aftermarket one and it needs to be changed regardless. Haha toyota wants 70, gimme a break.

just replaced the spark plugs which made little difference, im pretty sure its the wires but than again. The car takes sometimes 5-6 seconds of cranking to start by cold i i mean like 10 degrees c outside, but than after i let it idle i kill the ignition and start it up again its instant. Could there be a problem with the mass airflow sensor or something like that.